Cardiomyopathy

Ranging from mild to serious, cardiomyopathy weakens heart muscle and can potentially affect your child’s health. Our experts believe that your family deserves a tailored treatment plan, one that protects your child’s heart.

What is cardiomyopathy?

Cardiomyopathy is a condition that can stiffen or enlarge a child’s heart. Those changes mean the heart can’t pump as well, reducing the oxygen going to other important organs, such as the lungs. The lack of oxygen can cause your child’s health to decline over time, so timely treatment of cardiomyopathy is essential.

Cardiomyopathy symptoms

Children with cardiomyopathy may experience:

• Shortness of breath even while resting
• Irregular heartbeat
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Fatigue
• Swelling in the legs or abdomen

Cardiomyopathy causes

While the cause of cardiomyopathy isn’t always known, many cases run in families. (Learn more about our cardiovascular genetics program.) Other possible causes include:

• Heart valve problem
• Arrhythmia
• Infection
• Nutrition deficit
• Mother’s alcohol or drug use while pregnant
• Mother’s exposure to toxins while pregnant
• Connective tissue disorder

Cardiomyopathy types

Several kinds of cardiomyopathy can affect children:

• Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM): The heart’s main pumping chamber (left ventricle) becomes larger, thinner and weaker.
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM): The entire heart becomes thicker and more rigid.
• Restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM): The bottom chambers of the heart become stiff.
• Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD): Fibrous scar tissue replaces healthy tissue, disrupting electrical signals to the bottom right chamber.

Cardiomyopathy diagnosis

If your child has signs of cardiomyopathy, our team does a complete medical history evaluation and gives a physical exam. We also perform diagnostic tests such as:

• Echocardiogram
• Electrocardiogram
• Pulse oximetry
• Exercise testing
• MRI
• Biopsy

Cardiomyopathy treatment at Advocate Children’s Hospital

Each case of cardiomyopathy is different, so we personalize treatment plans based on factors such as type, severity of diagnosis and your child’s age.

Medication

We may prescribe medications that reduce the size of the heart, relax its stiffness, regulate its rhythm or strengthen its ability to pump. We often combine medications to treat multiple symptoms.

Electrical devices

Our specialists may implant a small device such as a pacemaker or defibrillator into your child’s chest or abdomen. These devices can help regulate heartbeats that are irregular or slower than usual. Learn more about our electrophysiology and pacemaker program.

Surgery

Though rare, we may perform a heart surgery called septal myectomy for children with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. During this procedure, our surgeons remove part of the wall between the left and right sides of the heart to improve blood flow.

Heart transplant

When cardiomyopathy becomes more severe, it can lead to heart failure and heart attacks. Sometimes, medication and electrical devices can only prevent these complications for a little while. If the heart then becomes very weak and damaged, a heart transplant may provide the best option to treat cardiomyopathy.

Should your child need a heart transplant, our team is here to help you understand the reasons and the steps. You receive the information and preparation you need to feel confident about the path forward, as well as our team’s full support.